Writing Guidelines

Your work must be original, although you may reference outside sources for ideas and inspiration. Once completed, the copyright of the work passes to Contract Web Development, Inc. and you will not be permitted to publish or resell the article. Articles must contain a minimum of 800 words (a "page," as we refer to it, consists of 400 words). You may write as long an article as you wish, but unless you receive permission from us to go over 2500 words (just ask - you'll usually get permission) - you will only be compensated for the first 800 to 2500 words (2-6 pages). Fill out an application now to be considered for our creative writing program. Please contact us if we have approved your application and you have not yet received your login details.

Compensation

We reward loyalty! The longer you write for us, the more you'll be compensated. We track the total number of articles you have written for us, and you will be able to view this count in your MyCreativeWriter.com profile. Every 10th article you are upgraded to a new writer level, and will receive higher compensation. Check out our compensation chart below for details (please note that this compensation chart may change from time to time to adjust to market demand and changing business conditions. If it does, and you are an approved, active writer, you will be notified of the changes). Unless arranged otherwise, new writers begin at level 1.

• Level 1 (1 - 10 articles): $5.00/ USD per 400 words, up to $30 per article.
  • Example: if you write an article that is 2241 words long, we calculate your compensation as follows (2241/400 = 5.6025 * $5 = $28.01). As you can see, we compensate for every single word you write, not just every page. Every word counts!
• Level 2 (11 - 20 articles): $5.25/ USD per 400 words, up to $31.50 per article.
• Level 3 (21 - 30 articles): $5.50/ USD per 400 words, up to $33.00 per article.
• ...
• At Level 11, you will be earning the maximum $47/ article ($7.50/ page). If you write more than 2500 words, this number will be even higher. For levels 10 and up, you are eligible for bonus payments. There is no limit to the number of levels you may reach.
  
• Bonus payments: Every 10th level, you receive a $100 bonus payment. Every 50th level, you receive a $250 bonus. Every 100th level, you receive a $500 bonus. Every 1000th level, you receive a $1000 bonus. There is no limit to the amount of bonuses you can receive. Please note that these bonuses are mutually exclusive. For example, on the 100th level, you don't receive the 10th and 50th level bonuses in addition to the 100 level bonus.
• Referrals: Approved writers may earn up to $50 for everyone they refer to this site that signs up, qualifies, and writes at least one approved article. You will receive $10 for each article your referral writes, up to the 5th article ($50).
• Promotions: from time to time, we will hold promotions that will increase your compensation. Examples of promotions include a bonus payment for the first writer to choose a new topic when they are posted; increased payment for a premium article topic; etc. Sign up to our "stay up to date" newsletter at right, or follow us on Twitter (Twitter.com/iCreativeWriter) to learn about new promotions as they happen.

How Much Can I Make?

Some of our best writers are earning annual payments of $40,000 and up. As an example, if you're a level 11 or higher writer, and you write 5 articles a day, you will be earning $225/ day, or $1,125/ week, or $56,250/ year. This example assumes that you do not write on weekends, and that you write 50 weeks out of the year (taking 2 weeks off). How much you want to earn is entirely up to you. That's the beauty of this program - you write when you want and how much you want, and completely at your own pace and convenience.

Note: during periods of high demand, we limit the number of articles a writer may submit each day. See below for details.

How Many Articles Can I Write?

Occasionally, during periods of high writer activity, we will get behind on our publishing schedule. For this reason, we post an "article limit' in the sidebar to the right which will notify you of the maximum number of articles you may submit each day. This count typically resets on your payment date. As soon as our publishing schedule catches up, this limit will be raised, so check it regularly.

Timeline

There is no fixed deadline to submit article work, but we suggest a two week turnaround time. If your article topic has not been submitted within a month of selection, we will release it again so another author may select it.

Payment

Payments will be deposited directly into your Paypal account, on a bi-weekly (every two weeks) basis, once your balance for approved articles reaches $50 (or, for high volume writers, you have the option to receive payment via electronic transfer (ACH) into your bank account). Payments typically go out by end of day Monday.

If your article is not accepted for any of the reasons listed below, compensation will be denied, and your contract with us may be terminated. You may sign up for a Paypal account by clicking here. If you prefer payment by check, we will issue a check in your name once your earnings reach $100. Please note that higher level writers may have higher balance thresholds.

Requirements

Before an article is accepted, it must meet the following guidelines:

• No spelling or grammatical mistakes.
• Content length must meet our minimum requirement of 800 words.
• Content must be original, not copyrighted, and not published elsewhere.

Any articles not meeting these guidelines will be rejected and are not eligible to receive payment. If you make spelling or grammatical mistakes only, we may still accept your article, but we will reduce your compensation accordingly. If this is the case, we will send you the revised article so you may learn from your mistakes.

Opening Paragraph

Please include an opening paragraph that serves as an "executive summary" or "teaser" of the whole article.

Sub-Headings

In addition, we ask that you please add headings and sub-headings to your articles. This helps break up the article for readers and makes it easier for them to pinpoint sections of interest. The headings and sub-headings will also increase your word count a bit so you will be compensated accordingly.

For an example of an article that has effectively been divided up into sections using sub-headings, see the article Orangutans, by Amy Brannan, one of our top creative writers.

Conciseness

Please be concise and don't add "fluff" (ie. unnecessary and repetitive wording) to your articles. If you do, we'll have to reduce your word count and compensation based on editing time incurred.